Concerns about Massive Departure of Immigrant Workers from Russia Misplaced, Kabanov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, April 3 – Russian economic leaders have expressed concern about two kinds of emigration: the flight of highly trained Russian specialists because of Putin’s war in Ukraine and increasing repression at home and the departure of less skilled immigrant workers from Central Asia and the Caucasus because of the slowdown in some branches and exchange rate problems.

            The first of these concerns appears to be justified given that more than 200,000 such people have left Russia so far these year (windowoneurasia2.blogspot.com/2022/03/200000-people-have-left-russian.html). But the second may not be as serious as many have been suggesting.

             Kirill Kabanov, head of the anti-corruption committee of the Presidential Human Rights Council, says there is no reason to think that there will be any mass departure of immigrant workers from Russia because of their dominance of the sectors in which they work and their desire to remain and become citizens (nazaccent.ru/content/38030-chlen-spch-v-rossii-ne-budet-massovogo-ottoka-migrantov.html).

            Their dominance in certain trades may make it easier for them to remain, but it is unclear how this will prevent many from departing if their economic or even more political situation within Russian changes. If the Russian economy offers fewer benefits than the economies of their home countries, they will stay. But if that changes, so will their decisions.

            And there is another factor which Kabanov does not consider: the Russian government’s increasing support for ethnic Russians who are now to be given special preferences as regards the acquisition of citizenship. Such preferences not only signal the direction Russia is moving but work against any immigrants who do in fact want to change their citizenship.